


The Roommates

by Persiflage



Series: Mashed Up Tropes Fics [27]
Category: Holby City
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Bernie Wolfe: World's Okay-est Lesbian, F/F, First Kiss, First Time, Friends to Lovers, Loss of Virginity, Mash-up, No Underage Sex, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Serena Campbell: Bisexual Extraordinaire, Serena McKinnie/Edward Campbell (Past), Trope de Trope, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-16 15:41:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29578350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persiflage/pseuds/Persiflage
Summary: Pre-canon divergence: Bernie and Serena are at school together and become very close, then life intervenes.
Relationships: Serena Campbell/Bernie Wolfe
Series: Mashed Up Tropes Fics [27]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1960414
Comments: 6
Kudos: 51





	The Roommates

**Author's Note:**

> Written for an Anon for the Mashed Up Tropes Meme on Tumblr, for the tropes: 12. Roommate AU and 90. Unexpected Virgin
> 
> Please note the tags and rating - there is no underage sex in this.

Entering the Sixth Form at St Winifred’s Boarding School for Girls meant that the ‘gels’ (a truly infuriating pronunciation of an infantilising label for sixteen year olds, Serena felt) got to share a room with someone else instead of sharing a dorm. So Serena picked Berenice Wolfe, the ‘Lone Wolfe' as she was known to everyone else since the taciturn young woman tended to prefer to spend her time in solitary activities. That is unless the likes of Serena McKinnie, a popular and outgoing girl, managed to use her charm and powers of persuasion on Berenice to get her to join her in a bigger study group, or even in getting together a five-a-side game of netball. Berenice was a popular choice for netball teams since she was considerably taller than many of her classmates, but it was well known that she preferred running and had won the school many trophies at that particular activity. She had also taken up archery, to no one’s surprise since she was destined for the Army, just like the rest of her family before her (including her three older brothers).

Serena had to occasionally chide Berenice, or Bernie, as she preferred to be called in private (the teachers would never call her that, of course, because it was not ‘the done thing’ at St Winifred’s to shorten names), for leaving dirty socks spread across the floor of their shared room, or piles of research notes in haphazard heaps, but for the most part they got on well together. If the weather was good, they’d sometimes sneak out of their window and up the drainpipe onto the roof above their room to drink cocoa and talk about their career plans. Serena fully intended to be a surgeon, but she was also planning on getting an MBA at Harvard, whereas Bernie had decided to join the RAMC, rather than joining the Army outright.

“I’d rather heal people than hurt them,” she confides to Serena one night when they’re lying side by side on a blanket on the roof, gazing up at the stars. 

“Will your parents mind?” asks Serena cautiously.

“I’ve already told them. Father doesn’t seem to mind. He said that at least I’d have a profession that was useful in Civvy Street if I ever choose to leave the Army.”

“Why would he think you’d choose to leave the Army.”

“Oh, I expect he’s assuming I’ll get married and have children, in which case, I’ll obviously leave the Army to bring them up, because only an unnatural woman would leave her children behind to go and serve overseas.”

“Are you going to marry and have kids?” Serena asks.

Bernie snorts. “Hardly, Serena. I’ve zero interest in boys.”

Serena shifts closer and asks in a whisper so quiet her voice is barely audible, “Are you interested in girls, Bernie?”

Bernie swallows, the sound audible in the silence of the night. “Why would you think that?”

“I’ve seen the way you look at Mrs Finnegan when you think no one else is looking,” Serena says, hooking her pinkie finger through Bernie’s. “It’s okay, I won’t tell anyone. Pinkie swear.” They’re pressed so close together that she feels Bernie’s muscles tense up.

“You – you can’t tell anyone ever,” Bernie says hoarsely. “The Army doesn’t allow homosexuals to serve. I – I –”

“Shh, it’s okay, Berenice,” Serena breathes. “Your secret’s safe with me.” She shifts onto her side and reaches out to tuck a lock of blonde hair behind her friend’s ear. “And I’ll give you a quid pro quo, Berenice. I like girls and boys.”

“You – you do?”

“I do. And I like you a lot. Do you – would you –” Her words falter.

“What is it, Serena?” Bernie reaches out and cups Serena’s cheek, her palm warm against the brunette’s skin.

“Can I kiss you?” Serena whispers.

“Oh!” breathes Bernie, and she can tell that the other girl is surprised by the request. “Yes. Please.” She shifts onto her side and brings her mouth to Serena’s. The kiss is gentle, tender, and completely chaste. It still sends a thrill down Serena’s spine before settling between her thighs, make her sex throb as it heats up.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

They exchange kisses at irregular intervals thereafter, always chaste, always tender, and always so gentle. As they progress through their A-levels, moving from the Lower Sixth to the Upper Sixth Serena starts to long for more than chaste kisses, although she’s unsure whether or not she wants that ‘more’ from Berenice Wolfe or from someone else entirely. She cannot pretend that she isn’t interested in boys and she knows she’s caught the eye of more than one boy from St Cuthbert’s Boarding School for Boys, their nearest neighbour.

A few days before term finishes for Christmas, the two schools hold a joint Carol Concert for their fellow students, their teachers, any parents who wish to attend, and the local community as well. Serena, as Head Girl, has to give two readings and as she looks across the church her eye is caught by seventeen year old Edward Campbell, a tall, good-looking boy who thinks very highly of himself. She knows he’s also planning on becoming a doctor. She also knows he’s very keen on her and she has more than half a mind to accept his proposed coffee date. The only thing that’s holding her back is Berenice. Not that Bernie has expressed a dislike for the general idea of Serena dating someone. It’s only Edward she’s opposed to Serena dating as she finds him too arrogant and too full of himself. Serena, while acknowledging Edward’s arrogance, finds him charming and attractive, and as they catch each other’s eye in the church, she resolves to accept the date he’s offered. It’s only coffee - and hopefully a few kisses that are less chaste than the ones she’s shared with Berenice Wolfe.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Once their A-levels are complete Serena and Berenice go their separate ways. Berenice will be going to the university closest to her parents’ home as her mother has been diagnosed with lung cancer and has an extremely poor outlook. Bernie, understandably, wants to be nearby so that she can see as much of her mother as possible during her last few months. Serena takes herself off to America to study for a Harvard MBA and thinks only fleetingly of her roommate, Berenice Wolfe, and almost never of kissing her.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

The pair meet again when they’re in their early twenties when they’re both assigned to the Royal Free Hospital in London to do their F1 programs. Serena’s just walked onto her new ward, a strong cup of coffee clutched in her right hand while her left struggles to tuck her ‘medicinal’ pain au chocolate into her shoulder bag. She startles when two hands hold her bag open and she looks up, a mixture of gratitude and annoyance filling her, only to find herself looking into a very familiar face: thin pink lips, a long, hawkish nose, deep brown eyes, and messy blonde hair hanging in waves about her face.

“Hullo stranger,” says Berenice Wolfe, her low, husky voice doing pleasant things to Serena’s nerve endings.

“What are you doing here?” asks Serena curiously, noting that no one else is paying them the slightest bit of attention.

“Working on becoming a doctor,” Bernie says, eyebrows raised.

“I’d have thought you’d have an overseas posting by now.”

“No,” Bernie says, then adds, “My mother was a long time dying and extremely sick, too. I ended up putting off completing my initial studies so that I could nurse her and help my father to cope.” She heaves a sigh. “They were married fifty years, you know? He took her death very hard indeed.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. How is he now?”

“Gone, too.” Bernie doesn’t look at her and Serena remembers, of old, how reticent the blonde could be about personal matters. 

“I’m sorry for your loss,” she says. “Both of them.”

“Thank you.” 

The consultant walks out of her office and onto the ward at this point, so they have to postpone further conversation.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

They are allowed a mid-afternoon break, a late lunch after their planned lunchbreak was lost amidst the chaos of helping to deal with a multiple car pile up on the motorway. They grab a sandwich and a coffee and elect to sit out in the courtyard behind the hospital as the sun is out and there are a few trees out there to make the place a bit less grim than anywhere else.

“Whereabouts are you living?” Serena asks.

Bernie flushes, to Serena’s surprise. “I don’t have any accommodation lined up quite yet. I’m kipping on a mate’s floor for the next few days until I can find somewhere.”

“Well, that won’t do,” Serena says decisively. “Come and stay with me.”

Bernie raises her eyebrows, her mouth full of sandwich.

“My mother rented an entire three bedroom house for me,” Serena says, blushing herself. “She was very concerned that I not mix with ‘the wrong sort’.” She snorts. “She’d probably be appalled if she knew the sorts I mix with, but I’ve no intention of telling her and since she’s safely in Holby, not in London, she’s unlikely to find out.”

“Are you sure, Serena?” Bernie asks, sounding quite shaken. “I warn you, I still tend to leave socks on the floor and piles of research notes stacked haphazardly in odd places.”

“So long as you don’t leave either your socks or your research notes in _my_ room, we’ll probably manage to muddle through.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

“No problem. We’ll go and get your stuff from your mate’s after we finish up here and you can have your pick of the two spare rooms.”

“Thank you.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Half an hour after their shift ended Serena pulls up outside Bernie’s friend’s house in Brixton and waits in the car while Bernie grabs her stuff since the blonde promises that she’ll only be about five minutes.

Four and a half minutes later Bernie comes down the steps with a large box in her arms and an Army kitbag balanced on top. Serena unlocks the boot, then climbs out of the car to open it for Bernie, taking the kitbag from her so that she can more easily manoeuvre the box into the boot. 

“Is this all of your stuff?” Serena asks doubtfully.

“Um, yes. Box of books, bag of clothes.”

Serena raises an eyebrow, noting the way Bernie bites her lip and ducks her head as her cheeks heat up.

“Practising travelling light for when you’re in the Army?” she teases, handing over Bernie’s kitbag, which she also stows in the boot.

“Something like that,” the blonde agrees.

Serena hums, then gestures at the passenger door. “Come on then, _soldier_ , let’s get you home.”

Bernie blush deepens, but she hurries to climb into the car as Serena moves into the driver’s seat.

They talk lightly of their day as Serena drives them across London, stopping to pick up Chinese takeaway to share once they get in, and Serena feels almost as if it hasn’t been years since she last saw Berenice Wolfe.

Over dinner and a bottle of wine – Serena’s lately discovered the existence of Shiraz and it’s rapidly become a favourite – they talk some more about the events of the years that have intervened since they finished at St Winifred’s. Serena requires very little encouragement from Bernie to talk about her stay in America, and the two end up sprawled on the three seater sofa, one at either end, backs pressed against the arms and legs entangled in the middle.

“I almost got married,” Serena says.

Bernie splutters as the mouthful of wine she’d just taken nearly goes down the wrong way. “To whom?”

“Eddie Campbell. Remember him? He was at St Cuthbert’s.”

Bernie snorts. “That arrogant prick,” she says in a disbelieving tone.

“He could be quite charming when he wanted,” Serena says defensively.

“If you say so, McKinnie. Never understood what you saw in him, if I’m honest.”

Serena flushes, heat burning her cheeks and coiling elsewhere.

Bernie blinks, frowns, then sits upright. “Oh. Don’t tell me, he was hung like a horse.”

It’s Serena’s turn to blink. “He what?”

“You know,” Bernie scoffs. “He’s got a big dick.”

Serena’s blush deepens. “Maybe,” she says.

“So why didn’t you marry him if he was so attractive?”

“He had wandering eyes and hands,” Serena says. “I’ve no doubt that if I’d married him, I’d have ended up divorcing him fairly quickly because he couldn’t keep his hands to himself.”

“I don’t think it was his hands you needed to worry about,” Bernie says.

Serena gives her a wide eyed look, then bursts out laughing. After a moment Bernie joins in, giving full rein to her ‘goose honk’ of a laugh, and Serena leans forward, pulling the blonde into a tight hug.

Their laughter fades, but they don’t let go of each other, and after a few moments Serena pulls back, gazes steadily at her friend, then pulls her in for a deep kiss. It lacks the tenderness and chastity of their youthful kisses, but it is nevertheless a very good kiss.

“Let’s go to bed,” Serena suggests once they pull apart to heave lungfuls of air into their aching chests.

“Oh – I – um – that is –” stutters Bernie.

Serena frowns at her, then presses her forehead to her friend’s. “What is it?” she asks in a low voice.

“I – um – I’ve never – you know.” She blushes.

Serena pulls back again, frowning once more. Then it clicks. “My god, Bernie, are you telling me you’re still a virgin?”

Bernie’s blush is the same colour as Serena’s beloved Shiraz by now. “Yes,” she mutters, eyes downcast.

Serena reaches out and tilts her chin up, then cups Bernie’s cheek in a gentle hand. “It’s okay, soldier, we’ll manage.”

She climbs off the sofa and holds out both hands to her friend. Bernie gets to her feet, then lets Serena take hold of both of her own hands and lead her out of the living room, then upstairs to the master bedroom, which is Serena’s.

Serena undresses Bernie with care and many caresses, doing her best to get her friend ‘warmed up'. Once Bernie’s down to her underwear: a utilitarian white cotton bra and a pair of grey boxer shorts, Serena encourages her friend to undress her in her turn.

Once they’re both wearing only their underwear (Serena’s is a lot more lacy and less utilitarian than Bernie’s), they climb onto the bed and meet in the middle to kiss and cuddle. 

“Don’t worry, soldier, I’ll take good care of you, I promise.”

“I trust you,” Bernie whispers.

Serena smiles, then leans in for a lengthy kiss and Bernie melts in her arms. 

It’s going to be a good night, Serena decides. A very good night indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [here](https://pers-books.tumblr.com/post/632504056011800576/if-youre-still-doing-em-12-roommate-au-and-90).


End file.
